This blog is devoted to stuff that white people like

#38 Arrested Development

Eventhough most white people prefer to say that they don’t watch television, one thing they agree on is that Arrested Development was the best show on TV. They love it so much!

The love it for a number of reasons. Firstly, since the show was cancelled before it jumped the shark, it’s effectively like a rocker that dies at 27. Also, the show got terrible ratings, meaning that it wasn’t ‘mainstream,’ which makes white people love it unilaterally. Other examples of shows like this are Twin Peaks and The Ben Stiller Show.

They also love it because there are a few references to white popular culture, and if there is one thing that white people love, it’s cultural references that they understand (see Garden State, The Onion, and Juno for examples).

If you are ever a white person’s house, and you see an orange box in their DVD collection, you should say “oh, you have Arrested Development, I love that show!” To which you will be offered a glass of wine, and perhaps an invitation to 80s night.

The two-hour pilot was the highest-rated movie for the 1989-1990 season with a 22 rating and was viewed by 33% of the audience.[14] In its first broadcast as a regular one-hour drama series, Twin Peaks scored ABC’s highest ratings in four years in its 9 pm Thursday time period.[15] The show also reduced NBC’s Cheers’s ratings. Twin Peaks had a 16.2 rating with each point equaling 921,000 homes with TVs.[15] The episode also added new viewers because of what ABC’s senior vice-president of research, Alan Wurtzel, called, “the water cooler syndrome,” in which people talk about the series the next day at work.

I thought that was a ghetto band in the 80’s, not a TV show. TV is evil, a tool of White Oppression. Don’t watch it!
(Whether your blog is “real” , or self-hating, or an attempt at self-mockery, whatever).. Anyway, I’m with anonymous, I loved Twin Peaks, except people actually started calling me that when it came out (for a couple obvious reasons, haha)..

I’m white and I hated Arrested Development so much, it provoked an immune response in me. Hated it. H-A-T-E-D it. I tried so hard to like it, but the show was so damn twee and self-aware, I had to bail. There is no doubt in my mind why it got low ratings and ended up cancelled. The show suuuuuucked.

“I thought that was a ghetto band in the 80’s, not a TV show. TV is evil, a tool of White Oppression. Don’t watch it!”

Young white people absolutely LOVE to mention the fact that they don’t watch tv. If you mention you do, they’ll mention how they would rather read instead. If you run into the ultimate white person who says that they don’t even own a tv, the best course of action is to find the nearest exit and leave asap.

I thought this blog post was about the hip-hop group Arrested Development at first. lol They love that group! I went to a FREE (something black people love!), outdoors(!) Arrested Development concert in San Francisco in the early 00’s. 98% white people.

if there’s one thing white people love more than denouncing television, it is doing so publicly, on their myspace pages.

also, it is important to note that while the average young white person’s day is far too full of important activities to watch television, there is usually plently of available time to post a myspace bulletin whenever they do something. or, in extreme cases, think something.

What do you mean they didn’t jump the shark? There is an episode featuring Henry Winkler actually jumping a shark. This is an homage of epic proportions. Even the Malachi Crunch thinks that was a stroke of genius writing by Mitch Hurwitz & co.

I agree with just about 100% of everything listed on this site. Another one to add is “The Office.” White People LOVE “The Office.” I myself am white and when I make the huge mistake of admitting that I’m not that into the show, a circle forms around me, ready to crucify me. “What? How could you not like it? Dude, it’s the best show on TV.”

And speaking of, the use of the word “Dude” is also something that should be up here.

Funny, most white people I know hate the show because it’s “too confusing”.

I still think Arrested is one of the best TV shows to have graced the earth because of the writing style. Unfortunately it got canned for shit like Family Guy, the OC or that shortlived crappy one which I can’t remember the name to (have you wrote about those yet?)

[…] lot of the items are spot on for me. Yes, I love Wes Anderson movies, Snowboarding, Arrested Development, Indie Music, and Bicycles. I don’t know whether to be embarrassed or proud about of having […]

i just got a link to this site and was horrified to find out just how white i was…when i saw sarah silverman on here i thought…oh fuck, i really, really love her. then arrested development…i really, really, really love that show. dammit.

Im not trying to come off as arrogant, but intelligence is required to appreciate the show. Arrested development is brilliant. Perfect casting, flawlessly written, and the storyline transitions better than any show I have ever watched. The running jokes through out the show’s duration are incredible, the pop culture references that tie in are absurdly hilarious. The witty one liners and the awkwardness of the humor make it hard to appreciate for most people. Basically, the show is too clever for most people in this country to enjoy. There is no laugh track telling you when you are supposed to laugh. Its not a show you could appreciate if you caught it half way through the season either. Each season is basically a movie. Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Curb You Enthusiasm (insert your favorite comedy) , cant even begin to compare to Arrested Development. The only show I consider to be on the same level is The Office.

The reason some white people like Arrested Development is probably the same reason some non-white people like it: it’s hysterical and clever and generally amazingly well-written. The common denominator between fans of the show is not race, but rather intelligence and appreciation of edgy, fast-paced jokes. It’s probably not for everybody, which is why it got cancelled. It IS the best show ever, which is why we love it.

SORRY, but i can only say that seeing this made me UPSET. as one of only a few thousand REAL arrested development fans in this world (i have seen every episode more times than i can count, and can quote it like a preacher quotes a bible, and most importantly, i am a member of THE-OP.COM the arrested development fan forum, the only forum we really have)

anyway, it upsets me to see this, because if white people actually DID like this show, it would be on the air for more seasons, the likes of a show like “24” which white people are scared to admit they love.

it bothers me to see this, because its actually loved by about 10% of white people, if that… and true fans just get upset knowing that the white people who claim to like the show, dont even understand half of its jokes, but say they love it because they are told that its “Smart”

No search results for Curb your Enthusiasm or Larry David on this site. (i think comments dont get searched). I know its not current to 2008, yet a post on that shiite would be awe inspiring. Check out CYE “Ruckus with the ladies” bit from the season on that video clips website.

[…] Michael Cera’s revolutionary performance as George Michael Bluth in the WP show Arrested Development will live with us forever. We disdain his meek Juno identity and prefer the strong, masculine George Michael who hooks up with cousins and loves Quicken. […]

[…] have a crush on jemaine clement. psss – i also have a prius, a sigg, an iphone, buy organic, LOVE arrested development, have worked in NGOs and in developing countries, and sometimes (not always) feel bad for poor […]

Its fine to make fun of white ppl… i can laugh at myself and the whiter guy next to me (better yet the white guy who cant accept he’s white). but “minorities” need to be able to laugh at themselves too… either way you can call it “racist humor” and some can get all up-itty and shit but who cares, why do you have to be a racist if you make a joke about a person of a different heritage, we all have funny and stupid querks, learn to laugh at yourself and at others… as long as you dont harbor any real ill-will towards another. “Racist” jokes are often hilarious, whether they are about whites or blacks or arabs or asians or canadians (stupid canucks) or latinos or whatever… lighten the fuck up and have a laugh.

…And btw Arrested’ is the funniest show to have ever have been on tv. (< pronounced ‘period’) Its not the best show ever cuz you gotta break things into categories a bit (kinda like races and ethnicities), but it is the best\funniest comedy show ever! period.

oh and if its isnt funny to you thats cuz you dont get the jokes, and if you dont get the vast amount of jokes (or realize the vastness or the vast amount of joke) thats because you are too stupid to get the jokes.

AD is best for 20yr olds at youngest, usually, and hits best with close to thirty somethings. you have to have a bit of an IQ and you have to have been awake over the past 15 or so yrs and be aware of the last 30 or so. If you got below a 550 on your vocab section of your SATs chances are you wont like this show… but then again your opinion doesnt matter! (oh i forgot to mention in my last post that it IS okay to harbor ill-will against the stupid!) *flame on?*

Why do you have to be smart to think that show is funny. Does it really take glaring insight to think that Tobias looks funny in blue pant and jean shorts. Or that Buster is a mommas boy, or that jobe is just a baffoon. I am sorry doesnt take much of an IQ for that. That being said I love th show. Really hasnt been anything like it. Then agian I like Survivor too. How about a new one “Saying that you need to be clever to get it just to justify watching a show that other people dont like”.

Ok so you dont have to be to bright to get those parts… but the show is literally line after line a joke after joke… ive watched it with bright ppl and they get the lines that to someone else would be just dialogus (yeah, i just made up a word. what of it?!) banter.
So i will refine my claim… if you are bright this show will likely be funnier to you than to a stupid person… ya see? that just doesnt flow as well.

true, white people like to say they never watch tv. i, on the other hand, like to basically brag about how i watch TONS of it. kinda like the college kid who brags about how many beers he bonged last night. seriously, i watch TONS of tv. probably over an hour a day…

Haha I had never heard of Arrested Development until Netflix had recommended it for me! It’s now in my favorites on my facebook profile (another thing that white people love) and I know I am in for a treat whenever I see that Jason Bateman or Micheal Cera is in a movie!

Also a class thing and regions of white peoples. Most of the white people I know have no clue what the tv show Arrested Development was. They do know the band and don’t like the band so good try with that one.

thank goodness Arrested Development was cancelled. How else could the rest of America fully appreciate the genius of Michael Rapaport’s “The War at Home”??? I mean, christ, how do you even watch a sit-com without a laughtrack?

Im white never seen the show! Friends would have been a better one, Seinfield even better(still never watched it) but the best one was M.A.S.H. that is the first big show that white people everywhere watched(never watched it)

I don’t really like most of the things on this site, but one thing I do like… no scratch that… LOVE is Arrested Development. I know it has been said before, but the show really does require you to have a functional brain. While there are many jokes that are obvious, if you watch the show multiple times, you will catch so many subtle things that makes the show above and beyond anything on television. One example of this is when Michael and Gob are talking about Gob buying a boat called the Seaward. Their mom walks in and Michael says to get rid of the Seaward, although their mom things he meant the “C word” it is an obvious joke(to most people) and is funny, but theres a subtle thing that you have to watch closely to catch, their old yacht was called Lucille (the name of their mother) and Gob sinks it in a magic “illusion” but if you pay attention later on in the series you will notice that a new yacht they had is named “The C-word” referencing how their mom is a Cunt. There are many many more subtle jokes, but that was the first one to pop into my head while I was writing this. The quality of the actors of this show are top notch too.
Obviously people know Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, and Will Arnett, but the 2 most talented actors (in my opinion, I guess it’s just because I like their other work more) are Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross. David Cross with Bob Odenkirk created one of the best sketch comedy shows of all time with Mr. Show, and Jeffrey Tambor was what is probably one of the best characters on television as Hank Kingsley in The Larry Sanders Show. Tony Hale is not as famous as the rest of the cast, but his portray of Buster is top notch. And I am not a huge fan of actresses (at least not near as much as actors) but as far as the female lineup in this show, you couldn’t get much better. Add in a very great lineup of guest stars, such as Ben Stiller, Ed Begley Jr., Henry Winkler, Scott Baio, and other recognizable faces, the acting in this show couldn’t get much better.
The incredible acting and flawlessly written script was what made this show the greatest show in TV history. Obviously I love this show too much, I watch the whole series almost once a week.

[…] it’s very insightful and entertaining. The TV shows that show up on the list are The Wire, Arrested Development, and The Daily Show/Colbert Report, which happen to be my favorite shows (and I’m snobby […]

“Young white people absolutely LOVE to mention the fact that they don’t watch tv. If you mention you do, they’ll mention how they would rather read instead. If you run into the ultimate white person who says that they don’t even own a tv, the best course of action is to find the nearest exit and leave asap.

Sincerely,
The Duke of White People”

ha! Duke!! that’s aweomse.

I reluctantly admit that have a tv, but I quickly add that I don’t subscribe to cable. (I keep the tv on a tv dinner tray in the living room so that I can move it to the spare room easily when guests come to visit. I wouldn’t want them to think that I’ve been watching it. It certainly doesn’t have a permanent place in the living room.)

I love arrested development. I get it on CBC television at 5:30pm when I get home from work.

I adjust the picture by fiddling with the kitschy rabbit ears I have mounted on top of the television. QUIRKY and cool!

I love Arrested Development and mourned it’s early demise. It did poorly in the ratings for a couple of reasons. 1) It wasn’t marketed well. I never once saw a commercial for the show. If you watch 5 minutes of TV, you’ll probably see six commercials for Prison Break, five for American Idol, three for Medium, etc. You can’t choose not to market a show and then complain that nobody is watching it. 2) I agree with several others in that the show was too intelligent for a lot of people. That may anger some, but I’m sorry. I used to write articles for newspapers and magazines, but the editors would often dumb my stuff down. When I asked why, they said, “You have to write for an eighth grade audience. Most people don’t read so well.” That’s a sad statement about Americans. But it’s also an indication as to why there are so many stupid shows on TV. Arrested Development asked that its audience think, and I’m sorry…but some people can’t handle that. It’s not a white thing, a black thing, or any other type of thing. And while I found this site to be worth a chuckle, it only serves to promote the stereotypes that we should be past at this point.

Being really white, I do know that David Cross appeared on BOTH Arrested Development AND The Ben Stiller Show. And in my pasty household, the phrase “pooter balls are..people” is still used to this day.

T.V. show that has taken Arrested Development’s place in the genre that is funny-shows-with-lots-of-irony-and-shitty-ratings
that white people like because it’s “alternative”: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

[…] on Pajiba (which is calling it one of the best 15 television seasons of the last 20 years) and Stuff White People Like and got the urge to watch. Since Pajiba suggested Season 2, that’s what I popped in, and let […]

Wow, this site isn’t offensive, or funny, or, well, much anything. You all know that one scene in arrested development has more comedy in it than this entire website, but hey, im just a “white guy.” at a coffee shop.

I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned that Ron Howard narrated and produced the series as well. It just doesn’t get any whiter than that.

Everybody thinks Howard constantly wears a trucker hat because he’s balding, or he’s trying to be a “Hollywood Director” guy like Rob Reiner (also a balding guy from TV, so white ‘n liberal he was “Meathead” back in the day). But, noooo… Ron Howard’s so white that, if he DID’NT wear a hat, he’d spontaneously combust within five minutes under the hot SoCal sun.

[…] of Stuff White People Like – every white person I know talks about it about as much as they do Arrested Development or Barack Obama – take a look. You might find that there’s a whole world of white folks out […]

With AD, they simply didn’t know what to do with it. First of all the ads were terrible. They told you nothing about the show, they didn’t make any coherent sense, they gave no indicator of the plot or story arc, and they made it seem really lame. On top of that, they aired the ads real late at night. Finally, they kept jumping the show’s slot, so no one could get used to where it was.

In the end Fox said “this show keeps winning awards, but it costs a fortune to shoot and the ratings are low. We don’t need a prestige piece. Cancel it, and film a season of When Dancing Celebrities Attack for $40.00.”

I must hold my tongue. This particular wordsmith has spoken so eloquently… I’m in tears. Tell it, (white) brother. I feel as if I must make that distinction, because you PC dumbfucks have your heads up your asses so far, the real world is a dim reflection off of the rim of the toilet bowl to you.

It was not a “ghetto” band. It was not in the 80’s, it was the early 90’s. Stuffwhitepeoplelike: commenting on blogs & “correcting” people when they have no clue as to what they are talking about. This blog is an example of that. Whitey loves it.

ok, i know this website is satirical and meant to be funny, but don’t you think it’s things like this that perpetuate the constant segregations made between races? really, if you must make distinctions, it would be much more accurate to do so based on class rather than race, because that’s really what this is about. it’s social conditioning, not nature. to be honest, it’s not this blog that bothers me, but it’s the comments that people leave claiming that one race is this way and another is that way. fuck off… this is 2008, shouldn’t we be getting past that bullshit by now??

OMG – I love this show and, not-surprisingly, it was cancelled. Too intelligent for most people, I think. I like the fact that they didn’t try to dumb it down or pander to the lowest common dedominator. There was no token “black” character etc… It was just funny, which I think cuts through any race issues.

I’ve seen all the episodes many times and still laugh when I watch them. Brilliant!

My dad is full Mexican and loves this show! It’s not just a white thing but I will say I have ultra white friends who just “gush” over it!

Do offices still have water coolers? Mine has a vending machine where I can buy water for $1.25/bottle. Or, I can use the water fountain, which is pretty much the same city water, but without the plastic taste.

So I’ve got my head up my ass for not finding something funny have I? Hmm, interesting. Oh, and this makes me a PC dumbfuck too? That’s fantastic. I wish I could be even HALF as insightful as you. Perhaps I could start by making really humorous analogies? Something fucking hilarious to do with toilet bowls and reflection? Haha, I’m already in stitches just thinking about this.

After that I could maybe move on to pigeonholing people I don’t really know ANYTHING about, just because they have a different opinion to me. Would I then no longer be a PC dumbfuck? Cos I’d hate to think someone else could jump to that same conclusion in the future, especially another person acting like a complete dickwad like you are.

I am white and never like the show but the band was alright. That being said it shows that you can’t label particular races like that. I have a black friend who I respect but that doesn’t mean that i think he’s going to steal something when he is in my house. I don’t think that he would do that because i don’t label people by there skin. I allow the actions of an individual to take place before i consider what i think of them. I hope this helps so we can all unite rather then looking at each other as different and creating alienation amongst us all.

I’m Asian, and write bits and pieces on the ‘stuffasianpeoplelike’ site, and I adore Arrested Development as well. Pretty much the first thing I said was that I found out about the site through an AD imdb board, linked to here, then linked to the Asian equivalent to this board…

So basically, if it wasn’t for Arrested Development, I wouldn’t have found out about this site, or the site for my ‘race’ either…

Thank you anonymous person for calling this stupid website out for what it is – racist! Doesn’t matter if it’s written by a white person, doesn’t matter if some white people find it amusing. Racism is racism.

Sincerely,

A white girl born and raised in the Bronx who loves Arrested Development and 80’s night (gee, I’m so lame and white…hardy har har), hates Sarah Silverman and Vegans, and REALLY hates self depricating white schmucks.

I was looking to buy all three seasons of Arrested Development and ran into a random guy who helped me find them. He said AD is the best show ever (to which I agreed) and that there weren’t many of us fans out there. He was African American. Now i’m confused.

Actually, Arrested Development went ahead and essentially “jumped the shark” in its final episodes, cause they knew they were going under.

Also, in one episode, they have Henry Winkler (Happy Days’ the Fonz) jump over a dead shark casually as it lays on a dock. When he jumped over a shark on Happy Days on water skis, this is how the phrase originated.

I hate to be one of those white people that proofread, but, dude, you need to proofread!–
“The love it for a number of reasons.”–
“If you are ever a white person’s house…”–
–I don’t ever think I’ll be a white person’s house!

I found this great new show which is very similar to Arrested Development and the Office and think it’s something you might be able to blog about, you can check it out at http://breakaleg.blip.tv/#962251

Also, inventing the internet so that losers like you can vent your spleen at us. Surreal.

Electricity
TV
Radio
Computer
Internet
etc., etc., etc.,

We benighted, “no clue as to what [we] are talking about” whites invented most of the useful things in the world in the hopes that one day, conflicted but signally ungrateful devotees of all the cool stuff we produce can read us the riot act (in this case, via one of our more spectacular and beneficial recent technical triumphs, the list of which is far too long to imagine, much less recite here) about how shitty we basically are. You’re welcome, ingrates. One way to really stick it to Whitey would be to eschew immunizations for your kids (who needs ’em, right? and the big American pharma companies are “evil” anyway, right?)

Oh boy. I’ve just lost all my “blackness” because I loved this show to bits. Bits I tell you. And how come I love so many things on this list? I know you white people love a puzzle – figure me out, haha!

[…] things that nerds like can begin without mentioning Monty Python. Monty Python is to nerds what Arrested Development is to white people – it’s an introduction into their own culture. It’s the first […]

Wow, I feel sorry for you white people who say you hate Arrested Development. I guess you didn’t “get” it but I sure did. I put it right up there with Three’s Company as the best show ever…………….yes, I said Three’s Company. Jack Tripper, come on!

Anyway, I love this blog. Just stumbled upon it and so glad I did. I’m white and I don’t see how it’s racist at all. Lighten up people; smoke a big fatty.

im black & i own all 3 seasons of arrested development….i also watch friends,seinfeld,everybody loves raymond,that`s 70`s show,malcolm in the middle etc etc…..humor is subjective but one cant deny the kind of humor that radiates from AD. what confuses me is those who didnt find it funny but kept watching…..im pretty sure if a bitch was giving u head & kept scraping your dick with her teeth u wouldnt let her suck u off anymore……correct?

[…] Arrested Development. We will fight you if you insult Arrested Development. Erin often tries to mimic Lucille Bluth’s over-the-top eye wink, and we’d like all of our readers to know that we at the Vorehouse run a pretty tight ship here. A gaming ship. […]

makes sense to me–white people love being different and shying away from big things (big corporations, paying for music, eating meat). It just seems natural that white people would like something that nobody’s heard of–it allows us to quietly rebuke the other person for being mainstream and for liking “Windows” over the Macbook and for living an uncultured, wasted life of meaninglessness and banality. (with references to the articles on St. Patricks day, Apple Products, &)

I rebted the first 1/2 season from Netflix. (Do white people like netflix??:0 ) It was very funny,but the charcters were so sick and ugly it got hard to take. Sadly,the storyline about the horny teen becoming sexually obsessed with his very jewey looking cousin got me a little turned on… She was cute,dammit,semitic features or not!

this is so true.
my white friends LOVE that show and own all the dvds.
I wonder, if you don’t like tv and think paying for cable is wrong because it supports the corrupt media don’t you see the irony of spending all that money on the dvds and watching the show so much that you all know it by heart?

Thats the point…no one watched it but alot of white people will say they love it…because there was so much controversy and they heard about it through word of mouth. Most white peopl who say they loved it probably never saw it but its cool to like it now because of the resons why it was cancelled. They (we) don’t care about the show, we care about looking intelligent and like we’re edgy, non-conformists while we drink our Starbucks, wear crocs(horrible) and post on internet blogs.

White people love being different? White people know that Thoreau was right when he said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

Seeking like minded company, and sitting in judgement of other white people, goes a long way to anesthetize feelings of isolation. This behavior isn’t exclusive to white Americans, or white people.

White Americans are in a unique position to be the ultra-consumer. Most Europeans have to make hard decisions on money spending. Few have the diggs, the car, the electronics, and the Cafe lifestyle. With a few credit cards, most in the US can have a little of everything.

The rest of the world get to sit around and watch white people “jump over the moon.”

Ah, if only more white people love Arrested Development perhaps it would still be on the air. Seriously, Arrested Development is one of the best sitcoms of all-time. Probably right up there with SportsNight (you really have to be very white to remember and like that one), Scrubs, Seinfeld, Frasier and Family Ties. That’s some great white TV.

No, it’s humor, you idiot. This website is very, very true to white people. (Yes, I am white.) Anyway, the stereotypes associated with white people are 50 times better than those associated with blacks and other races. I’d rather be called a snobby egomaniac than an uneducated criminal, wouldn’t you?

This stuff is so hilarious. I cant believe people are so dramatic that they take it seriously enough to think its offensive. Its amazing. And so true. Arrested Development is the best show ever, complete with wit, humor, and plentiful white people cultural references haha
An Yang.
“Say goodbye…to THESE”
And i have to say, the more you watch every episode the more you love it and the harder you will laugh the next time you rewatch the very same episode.
I even think non-white people like this show. I would recommend it to anyone. I hope they really do make a movie bc if i can see a chicken dance or a lucille bluth wink just one more time in a new context i will have a better life.

LOL, I am often surprised by just how accurately this site describes me, although I do deviate on occasion (the “don’t get too into anime” thing… I’m a huge anime geek… also I can’t STAND “natural medicine” or any of that new all BS)… so hilariously true in an ironic way. And yes… Arrested Development WAS the best thing on American TV during its run. XD

I’m white, I own it on dvd yes, but I pay for cable too… There are alot of things you can get on dvd you cant get on tv like no commercials! I will pay for that. I also have dexter, and dead like me on dvd, does that make me ironic as well? I don’t think so. I just want to be able to have these shows when they go off the air.

and whoever commented that was true. I guess the more I read this, the more I have to think it’s not so bad having stereotypes like this. It beats “all white people like American Idol” or some stupid shit that shouldn’t even be on the air.

We also like to say that we have known Michael Cera since his Arrested Development days, before Superbad and Juno. I myself have been known to say “I’ve loved Michael Cera since AD in 03, bitch!” Combining both my love for Arrested Development and self-aware hip hop references.

Given the popularity of “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Happy Days” among white people, might it be true that Ron Howard’s presence on this show (as the narrator) is solely responsible for its success?

Also, if it is not already, the “I knew about it before you and now don’t like it any more because you know about it” condescension mentioned by Meekers should be listed as something white people like.

Um, this is kind of fun, but…
I checked the List carefully and couldn’t find any of the following items. Without these addenda, the list looks suspicously like “Stuff White Liberals Like That Make White Conservatives Feel Uncool.”

Kool-aid? What the fuck are you talking about? How is it that you get made fun of for drinking kool-aid, and since when do just black people drink kool-aid? I hate stereotypes that just have no finding and just come out of thin air. But I love stereotypes that are based on solid reasearch, genetic screening, and field work.

You know, Asians are bad drivers, women aren’t any good at math, black people will burn down a city if a cop shoots a drug dealer that was trying to kill him. You know the ones that are just silly and not very harmful.

[…] the irrational aesthetics of my friends, acquaintances, and coworkers. Certain entries, like Arrested Development, The Daily Show/Cobert Report, and traveling, especially resonated with me. Some of my friends went […]

I like to think it was cancelled because Fox is an awful network. If the show was advertised as hard as some other Fox shows it might still be alive and kicking today. I feel the same way about Undeclared.

I submit that this show did NOT end before it jumped the shark. A good portion of the humour of the third season was pure shark-jumping. I mean, come on – the whole Little Britain and Michael dating a mentally handicapped girl thing? The Muffin Man? The show was a little bit crazy before these things but still within the realm of possibility.

Surely I qualify for some sort of white achievement award. I love the show Arrested Development and I am quite literally, Mr. Wendel. I know that the most famous Arrested Development song had the name spelled differently, but this did not stop every person at every fraternity party from pointing at me constantly whenever this song was played which was often

I do love this show and I will offer you wine. It will be cheap wine and in a cup, but not from a box! I am asian and white boys do love asian girls! I also love andy griffith I haven’t read that on the list yet! yeah ron howard!

I am starting to question my whiteness because I’ve never seen Arrested Development and I’ve never even heard of The Ben Stiller Show. Is it possible I’m not as white as I think I am? I thought all white people loved Curb Your Enthusiam (or is that a Jewish thing…?)

I love David Cross, but I just saw a couple episodes of Arrested Development (the first season) at my friends apartment and I was so bored I felt like I was being tortured.
Everyone seems to love this show, so I just wonder why I get this horrible feeling that Im wasting my life away, every time see an episode?
The only parts I thought were funny were David Cross scenes. Everyone else in that show is really painfully boring to watch. The characters are all sort of spoiled and the story lines are predictable and the whole thing is just at just a horrible boring middle ground.
It’s goes as far to make me feel depressed about life.

white or not… Arrested Development is a funny ass show… I didn’t like it at first and then someone made me sit down and watch the whole 1st season DVD and I could not stop watching it… best show ever (besides FOTC & U.K. office)

I love Arrested Development. You have to watch all 3 seasons to fully get all of the jokes and little references that I think makes the show so good. The dry, sarcastic humor and subtle jabs at pop culture were unlike anything else on at the time.

Its an illusion Michael. Tricks are something that whores do for money.

you are so stupid. if i knew you i would kick your a@@. i am white and intelligent and have several non white friends who are also intelligent. some of them like this show some do not. i myself do not like this show

[…] on a group. Mike was at the concert and the crowd cheered loudly, so Mike must have enjoyed it. White people like Arrested Development, so Ed likes it. These may be good guesses, but playing the odds is not the same as being logical. […]

“Terrible ratings” refers to viewership – indeed, hardly anyone watched when it was aired on FOX (and that’s why it was cancelled). Being hailed as “the best sitcom on TV” is, on the other hand, a question of critical acclaim

[…] what with it being so high on the list, hope has not been lost, anticipation has not been lessened. Stuff White People Like explains the Arrested Development phenom thusly: Even though most white people prefer to say that […]

Always thinking of myself as a nonconformist (perhaps another SWPL trait), I tried to avoid soooo many of the things on your list. But, like so many of the things on your list, I eventually succumb. When I finally saw “Arrested Development,” long after the show had gone off the air, I LOVED it. I immediately bought all three seasons on iTunes and watch it on my iPod all the time. *sigh* I guess I’ll finally have to watch “Mad Men” now…

Move on, Arrested Development…there’s a spankin’ new documentary-style comedy “Modern Family” had premiered two nights ago. ABC pwned the Fox network! The history of my life will be coming out soon on CSN ( cock sucking network) , “As The Trailer Turns”, it will document a year in my life with all my gay and animal lovers. +

I’m sorry, but if I am ever large enough to actually BE a dwelling, then I have eaten way too many pupusas, samosas, and banuelos. Hopefully your English teacher will remind you not to omit verbs from your sentences.

He also fully understood the meaning and intention behind the sentence yet felt the need to ignore the fact that it was perfectly comprehensible and at most a minor error and still correct him on proper grammar. (BTW, white people also really love correcting other peoples mistakes to make themselves feel better about their own inferiority complexes)

Arrested Development was the best comedy show on televesion and you don’t have to be white to appreciate it. The humor is universal and top notch. Anyone with a brain and sense of humor can find something in Arrested.

you dont feel better about your own inferiority complex, you feel better about yourself despite your inferiority complex — i should know, as i am a white person and am clearly very lacking in self esteem

[…] what with it being so high on the list, hope has not been lost, anticipation has not been lessened. Stuff White People Like explains the Arrested Development phenom thusly: Even though most white people prefer to say that […]

[…] what with it being so high on the list, hope has not been lost, anticipation has not been lessened. Stuff White People Like explains the Arrested Development phenom thusly: Even though most white people prefer to say that […]

“They also love it because there are a few references to white popular culture, and if there is one thing that white people love, it’s cultural references that they understand (see Garden State, The Onion, and Juno for examples).”

You could add Quentin Tarrantino’s early films to that list of films that contain white cultre references.

Okay, I watched the first two and half episodes and while it wasn’t horrible I won’t be persisting with it. It’s not in the same league as: Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Oz, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Breaking Bad or Entourage. I’ll have a crack at 30 Rock next week and see how I go with that.

Yeah, AD gets really, really funny for people who liked it right away because it constantly refers back to earlier episodes or to recurring character traits and downplayed catchphrases. But if you didn’t like it at first (and it sounds like you’re more into dramas) then no one should tell you “keep watching it, you’ll like it.”

White people, well all people, also enjoy http://www.NakedHipster.com. Mainly because the girls are hot and don’t have clothes on. Usually those two things go well together. You know, the hotness and the nakedness.
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[…] with it being so high on the list, hope has not been lost, anticipation has not been lessened. Stuff White People Like explains the Arrested Development phenom thusly: Even though most white people prefer to say that […]

Right o on this one.
As a black man who doesnt subcribe to the Bet tyler perry version of what comedy is i must say the mere thought of watching arrested development makes me wanna hurl.Im actually a pretty big woody allen fan so i supoose ive always considered AD something watched by the “wrong kind of white people.
Low brow humour is so distatseful.

I think the hipster liberal upper class white people you are talking about like the show because it wasn’t mass popular and because its humor actually takes some work to get and a lot of people missed it. I am sure I missed a lot of jokes in there myself. But its a good show. Who woulda thought someone could make a tender love story about incest that people would like and find cute. It at least launched Michael Ceras career, into some movies white people probably don’t like Superbad and one white people love Juno(terrible movie). I don’t know what happened to the acter who played Maeby, she is a great actor too

Come on… You could put ‘always sunny’ on this list but AD is universally, cross culturally one of the best comedy series ever.

It’s like the mother of witty comedy. It should be on a list ‘stuff everybody in the world likes’.

If i were a dictator in charge of a country, i’d force everybody to watch it. There’d be guards monitoring them to make sure they payed attention to every single line and facial expression, and penalties (public whippings) for not catching the joke.

That’s how much i believe everybody in the world loves/should love/will love AD.

[…] sense of being on the “in-crowd” is what makes me feel off about loving the show. As number 38 on the infamous Stuff White People Like list, the humorous post seems to hint at what turns me off, […]

[…] a cool cultural barometer for incoming college freshman and hipsters alike. It was even featured on "The Stuff White People Like" list for its counterculture persona and Caucasian-friendly references. As its popularity grew, so […]

[…] sense of being on the “in-crowd” is what makes me feel off about loving the show. As number 38 on the infamous Stuff White People Like list, the humorous post seems to hint at what turns me off, […]

2. The writers and actors are all clearly SO VERY PLEASED with themselves.

3. It does things that white people would laugh at, but few people of color would. Want an example? James Lipton stages a play using kindergarten kids. A play much like The Wire. Seeing a 5-year-old black boy in an orange prison jumpsuit shouting “Somebody stole my crack!” may get howls from the Caucasians, but, show me some African-Americans who think it’s rich.

4. AD seems to have been designed to be a cult hit–the guys who created this show clearly didn’t want a Seinfeld-esque ratings monster. Come on. One has to see the series from the very first show, in sequence, for it to make sense. Cult hits are great, but they’re only legit when the show actually was trying to BE a real hit and failed, like Freaks and Geeks. AD is to Freaks and Geeks as Poison is to Guns N’ Roses: a pale, manufactured shadow of the real thing.

5. What I hate most of all is how so many of my white friends (and they are almost all white, sadly) say I don’t like the show because I don’t understand it. Why, thank you for your patronizing pat on the head. I think I understand the show just fine: it’s crap! The smugness and self-satisfied-ness of the show are unbelievable. You want it, it’s all yours. Enjoy your Coldplay and (if you’re older) Radiohead. I’m out.

[…] the Swedish snow in which my grandmother was born. I’m so white that my Twitter handle is an Arrested Development reference. I love sushi and The Magnetic Fields and my bangs are longer than my face. I’m an […]